Ann Coulter Defends Mitt Romney's Massachusetts Health Care Law

Ann Coulter offered a surprising defense of Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health care law -- affectionately dubbed 'Romneycare' -- on Wednesday.

In a blog post featured on her website, entitled "Three Cheers For Romneycare!", she explains, "If only the Democrats had decided to socialize the food industry or housing, Romneycare would probably still be viewed as a massive triumph for conservative free-market principles -- as it was at the time."

Coulter is a vocal supporter of Romney's 2012 run. The presidential candidate has backed away from the law he spearheaded as governor of Massachusetts in an effort to distance himself from the GOP-detested health care legislation that President Obama signed into law in 2010. Critics of Romney have linked the two laws in an effort to paint him as a moderate.

In her post, Coulter lays out what she sees as a basic distinction between the Massachusetts law and the federal law. "One difference between the health care bills is that Romneycare is constitutional and Obamacare is not," writes Coulter.

Jonathan Gruber, one of the economists Romney hired to help craft the Massachusetts health care law, recently told Capital New York that the two laws are "the same f***ing bill."

Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner slammed Coulter's comments as "shameful" and accused her of "defend[ing] big government social welfare policy as conservative and treat[ing] conservatives like they're too dumb to understand the difference."

Some of Ann Coulter's controversial statements.

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• "You're Not Black"

  Coulter told a gathering of gay conservatives, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/27/ann-coulter-to-gay-conser_n_740066.html" target="_hplink">marriage "is not a civil right -- you're not black."</a>

• Occupy Wall Street and Nazis

  Coulter made <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/04/ann-coulter-occupy-wall-street-nazis_n_993744.html" target="_hplink">an analogy between the Occupy Wall Street movement and Nazis</a> in October. She said that some of the phrases used by protesters could have been said "before the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and with only slight modification when the Nazis were coming to power..."

• "Radiation Is Good For You"

  In May, Coulter appeared on Bill O'Reilly's show to argue that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/ann-coulter-radiation-is-_n_837512.html" target="_hplink">"radiation is good for you."</a> She was responding to concerns about radiation in Japan post-earthquake, and told a skeptical O'Reilly that levels of radiation higher than the cut-offs set by the government could actually reduce the risk of cancer.

• Coulter on John Edwards

  In 2007, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2007/03/02/10781/coulter-edwards/" target="_hplink">Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot."</a>

• Obama's Cocaine Dealer

  Earlier this year, Coulter asked someone to put out an ad looking for President Obama's cocaine dealer.

• Ann Coulter v. Princess Diana

  Coulter let loose on the late Princess Diana of all people, calling her an "<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/01/ann-coulter-bashes-princess-diana_n_888647.html" target="_hplink">anorexic, bulimic narcissist</a>." Prior to that, she had called Princess Diana a "nitwit hussy."

• Cenk Uygur A "Retarded Person"

  Coulter once called Cenk Uygur, then on MSNBC, "retarded."

• Ann Coulter v. journalists

  In May, Ann Coulter told the crowd at an annual CPAC conference that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/13/ann-coulter-more-jailed-journalists_n_822533.html" target="_hplink">"there should be more jailed journalists."</a>

• Ann Coulter v. Muslims

  Post 9/11, Coulter had this to say about Muslims: ''<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/09/opinion/bigotry-in-islam-and-here.html" target="_hplink">We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity</a>.''

• Ann Coulter v. New York Times

  In a <a href="http://www.observer.com/2002/08/coultergeist/" target="_hplink">2002 interview with The New York Observer</a>, Coulter said she wished that the Oklahoma City bomber had targeted the New York Times. She said, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." Later, <a href="http://rightwingnews.com/interviews/anncoulter.php" target="_hplink">she said</a>, "I should have added, 'after everyone had left the building except the editors and reporters.'"